here in japan, it's 10:00 p.m. on friday night. i'm james tengan. welcome to this hour's "newsline." 503 million people are sharing in the world's most prestigious awards. the european union has won this year's nobel peace prize. it's a boost for the 27-nation bloc which has faced a grinding economic crisis that has put considerable strain on its leaders and its citizens.

>> the norwegian nobel committee has decided that the nobel peace prize for 2012 is to be awarded to the european union. >> committee members say the eu and its forerunners have contributed to the advancements of peace, reconciliation, democracy, and human rights for the past 60 years. they say the union has played an important role in transforming most of europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace. european nations formed the eu in 1993, building on the european economic community or eec established in 1958. nobel prize representatives note the eu is currently undergoing economic difficulties and social unrest. but they say they want to focus on the bloc's successes. the award appears aimed at encouraging member nations to work together to overcome their challenges. the eu's top official who was in tokyo to attend the imf/world bank meetings spoke to nhk.

>> we have challenges for the moment in europe, but, it is indeed a happy day for europe and i trust for the world. >> european commission president jose manuel barroso welcomed the news. he said the award is a great honor for the citizens of europe, all member states, and european institutions. >> it is justified recognition for any project that works for the benefit of its citizens and also for the benefit of the world. >> barroso said the award shows that the eu remains an inspiration for countries and people all over the world. he said the international community needs a strong european union. delegates at the annual meetings of the international monetary fund and world bank have been talking about europe all week, though in less glowing terms. the head of the imf told the gathering in tokyo that the your zone is being severely tested.

christine lagarde said the road ahead will be long and will have its share of roadblocks. >> the global recovery is still too weak. job prospects for untold millions are still too scarce. and the gap between the rich and the poor is still too big. >> lagarde laid out three milestones in navigating this road ahead. she said financial leaders need to put the crisis behind them. they need to complete the reform of their sector. and they need to address inequality. world bank president jim yong kim says any policy limits the long-term prospects for growth, he wants his staff to work more closely with partner, and he wants the institution he runs to become what he calls a solutions bank. >> i've learned that the best solutions to economic and social problems often lie with the individuals and communities, coping with these challenges in their daily life. >> kim said he hoped his staff could, in his words, bend the

arc of history to eliminate extreme poverty. european leaders have spent countless hours trying to figure out how best to deal with their debt crisis. nhk world spoke to two main players about budget discipline now and what that means for the future. >> reporter: pierre has taken on a job few people would want. he became france's minister of finance in may. the economy is one of the strongest in europe. still, the french, too, feel weighed down under the debt. structure or reform is the way to strengthen europe's union, but world economic leaders are strongly urging the implementation. can europe move into action? >> we are two very positive moves during last month. first with the ecb, second with

growth. third with tax on financial transactions, which is going to happen between france, spain, italy, and other countries in europe. we are i believe truly taking into account political necessity to confront this crisis. of course it's too slow. we need to implement reforms. we're working on it. >> reporter: moscovici says the french, all europeans, in fact, should follow through with measures to reduce their debts. he said spending cuts are prerequisites for growth in the long run. >> this is why structural reforms are so necessary. and this is why if we need to deal seriously with that, i don't believe austerity is something good for the people. you cannot have growth in the midterm or long term if you've got austerity forever. we need to get out of it, but collectively.

>> reporter: they've wrestled some of the same things. he's the president of the european investment bank. european union states have boosted the bank's capacity in an attempt to provide more loans to businesses across the region. >> we were able to considerably increase our investment into the real economy, both in small and medium sized companies and in strategic infrastructure in the economy. this includes by the way also the priority for climate change action and for energy questions which are so dominant in europe. >> reporter: hoyer and moscovici both struggle with the balance between austerity and growth. it's safe to say many share their doubts. >> that was nhk world's kaori nagao. for all interviews with top economists at the imf wor/worldk meet, head to our website.

delegates at the imf/world bank meetings have given lots of examples of how the economy influences or is influenced by just about everything. one seminar examined health threats facing children in developing nations. attendees looked at how financial products can do more than just make investors money -- they can save lives. nhk world's mitsuko nishikawa explains. >> reporter: they have different occupations, but they share a common goal. more than 200 people from the private sector, public sector and nonprofit organizations met in tokyo to talk about improving global health. one of the topics, a financial product called back scene bobs. >> it's growing because it's not philanthropy. it's established as a business. >> reporter: the global alliance

for vaccines and immunizations, or gaby alliance, brought the program. representatives say nearly 2 million children die anually from vaccine-preventable illnesses such as pneumonia and rotavirus. the idea is simple. investors buy the bonds and that money buys the vaccines. the risks are relatively small. the returns are guaranteed by government donations. the real payoff, though, is seen in countries across the developing world. >> we were able to immunize 325 million children and save more than 5.5 million lives. >> reporter: firms issued the first vaccines in 2006. people in japan were allowed to start buying them two years later. they now account for half of the 60,000 investors worldwide. japanese are interested in the product because they have based

low-interest rates on investments for years. but it's more than that. >> translator: i think it's very good because it can raise focus, and it can invest in meaningful activities at the same time. >> i think that conscience of the japanese public is very important to this effort. >> reporter: amy ohno wants to be part of that effort. she's looking forward to the next vaccine vial issuance. she likes the potential reward on her investment. >> translator: i'm home. >> reporter: and she likes the example she's setting for her 11-year-old son, kyohe. >> translator: there are so many children who die so young, just because they couldn't get a vaccine. what would you choose? saving their lives by buying bonds or just leaving the money in the bank?

i'd like to see how many children's lives we'll be able to save with the bonds. and i want to share this experience with my son. >> reporter: gaby representatives are hoping more invests like ono come on board. they say the mitch imf/world bank meeting helped them attract much-needed worldwide interest because they have a goal in mind -- immunizing a quarter of a billion children by 2015, which they say would save another 4 million lives. mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world, tokyo. u.s. vice president joe biden and his republican challenger congressman paul ryan

clashed over a wide range of issues during their thursday debate. they included the direction of the country's economy as well as foreign policy. paul ryan attacked the obama administration on the economic front. >> we're heading in the wrong direction. 23 million americans are struggling for work today. 15% of americans are living in poverty today. this is not what a real recovery looks like. we need real reforms for real recovery. and that's exactly what mitt romney and i are proposing. >> joe biden defended the president's record, saying the markets were in a free-fall when obama took office. he counterattacked by accusing mitt romney of holding hostage the middle class and not supporting the recovery. >> we knew we had the middle class. we immediately went out and rescued general motors.

we cut taxes for the middle class. and in addition to that, when that occurred what did romney do? romney said no, let detroit go bankrupt. >> turning to foreign policy, ryan said the death of the u.s. ambassador to libya last month was a sign that obama's foreign policy is weakening. ryan criticized the current administration for ignoring a demand to strengthen security at the consulate. biden blamed the republican party, saying it pushed for drastic cuts in the security budget of diplomatic institutions. biden also cited the iraq war and the killing of al qaeda leader osama bin laden as major achievements of the obama administration. nhk's correspondent in washington says some observers have criticized joe biden for frequently interrupting his opponent and laughing too often. polls conducted by leading tv networks found opinions mixed after the debate. the u.s. defense secretary says his department is better equipped to deal with cyber threats. leon panetta has revealed

military programmers made advances that make it easier to track down hackers. panetta warned of the damage cyberattacks against infrastructure such as water or power plants or transportation systems could cause. he says his department has developed the capability to locate perpetrators even before they strike. >> over the last two years, d.o.d. has made significant investments in forensics to address this problem of attribution. and we're seeing the returns on that investment. >> panetta says a cyberplot by a nation or extremist group could be as destructive as the 9/11 attacks and could paralyze the u.s. the secretary expressed concern about the cyber capabilities of china, russia, and iran. he says the government and private sector must share information in order for the military to defend the nation's networks and interests more effectively.

a memorial ceremony was held on a friday in indonesia to mark the tenth anniversary of the terrorist bombing on the island that left more than 200 people dead. families of the victims and government officials reaffirmed their determination not to yield to terrorism. nhk world reports. >> reporter: ten years ago, bombings occurred near where this memorial now stands. today, a commemorative ceremony was held at the park 15 kilometers away from the site. late on the night of october 12th, 2002, the island popular with tourists turned into the site of tragedy. bombs exploded on a busy downtown street, kill 202 people. many of the victims were foreign tourists. a memorial ceremony held on friday was attended by about 1,000 people, including bereaved

families. australian prime minister julia gillard was also in attendance. tourists from australia made up the largest portion of foreign victims. >> we will hold fast to that which remains, to our determination of a free people to explore the world unbowed by fear, to our resolve to defeat terrorism, and to our duty to care for each other. >> reporter: the bombing took place one year after the september 11th terrorist attacks in the u.s. the incident pressed the indonesian government to demonstrate to its people and the international community its determination to confront extremist groups. indonesian police determined that the bomb attack had been the work of southeast asia-based terrorist network jamaah islamiyah. police investigation led to the capture of hups of suspects with some killed in gunfights.

in 2008, three convicts, including a bomber, were executed. speaking at the ceremony, which was covered by the international media, the indonesian foreign minister underlined that the majority of the muslims in the country are moderates who support tolerance of other faiths. indonesia has the largest muslim population in the world. >> this remembrance is a valuable opportunity to renew to reiterate our collective commitment to strengthen the voice of moderation, of tolerance, of mutual understanding among different communities, to feet extremism and intolerance in all its forms. >> translator: after ten years, i feel i've come to terms with the tragedy. but that won't bring the victims back to life. everyone on earth must think of how we can prevent such senseless deaths.

>> as terrorism persists in the world ten years after the attack, the bereaved pray for a future free from terrorists. nhk world, bali. in other news, german authorities have claimed that strawberries imported from china may have been responsible for poisoning 11,000 school children. but the chinese government says its products are not to blame. the outbreak occurred between late september and early october. the jer nan government says viruses from chinese frozen strawberries may have been responsible. the chinese says that no neuroviruses were detected in frozen strawberries stored in a warehouse in china. the german authorities said the strawberries had not been properly sterilized. officials at china's general administration of quality supervision, inspection, and quarantine said there is no scientific basis for the allegations.

they also said strawberries exported to other countries had not caused any problems. they suggested the contamination might have occurred in germany. myanmar is seen by many as the last undeveloped market in asia. japanese companies recognize some similarities in agriculture and are eager to promote sales of farm equipment in the developing nation. some 32 companies from the two asian neighbors took part in the tokyo event organized by the japan external trade organization. japanese manufacturers explained about the increase in productivity their equipment could to provid for farmers in myanmar. agriculture accounts for roughly one-third of myanmar's gross domestic product. however, productivity is still low because farmers rely mostly on manual labor. representatives from myanmar expressed keen interest in modernizing the industry. >> translator: i am interested in connecting myanmar's agricultural industry and the japanese consumer market.

this event gives me many new ideas. >> event organizers say they plan to continue assisting the farming industry in myanmar. it looks like a large flying insect, but it's actually a manmade device to make disaster response more effective, and it's being used by a japanese company to reach damaged sites that are hard to reach and to send back high-resolution video images. nhk world's hideyuki morita has the story. >> reporter: a strange object flies into sight. it takes pictures. the large copter, as it's

called, can shoot a video like this. it's a work of this area for the company in niigata prefecture. yamazaki and his team photograph disaster areas across japan. >> translator: the unique thing about this unmanned copter is that it can go places are humans cannot, take foe stow, and gather valuable information. >> reporter: four years ago the team made this unmanned aircraft guided by the law, it flies to locations and takes pictures and returns. at the end of march of last year, the aircraft made headlines. it flew over the major nuclear plant in fukushima right after the disaster. from a height of 400 meters, it took photos. this shows the further details of the damage.

it provided crucial information on where to spray water and how much. until now, the company could only take still pictures. but after fukushima, the crew decided to make a movie cam that takes movie images in 3d. their goal was to get a bird's-eye view. they decided to use a kind of helicopter that had six rotors. it lifts off vertically, controlling speed and direction is easy. the team has just started taking pictures. one person controls the copter, the other the camera.

they try to send the copter under a low substantial bridge. but as the march copter rises, part of it is in the chart. he succeeds. the camera is so good it can even though the texture of rocks and record clear images of places people can't reach from the ground. >> translator: we aim to get information out as quickly as

possible. there is a place where the multicopter can take film and will fly there. we want to be a pioneer in this aviation. >> repoter: with the bird's-eye view, they achieved their ambition. by providing photos of places, the large copters have the response team and do a more effective job. hideyuki morey toe, nhk world, niigata. and here our "newsline" meteorologist robert speta is raring to go with this hour's weather update. robert, it's all yours. this is typhoon prapiroon to start off here just towards the east of the philippines, towards the south of okinawa, still spinning here and still really intensifying or maintaining this strong typhoon intensity. winds currently at 234 kilometers per hour, gusting up to pressure maintaining at 948 hpa. but really the big thing with the storm system is the track. it's moving very slowly at this time. you can kind of see it making that s shape off there towards the north. so with that said, it still

could remain just to the south of okinawa for the early and mid part of next week. across this region, okinawa u you could be impacted by the storm going into thursday. with that said, it's a very slow-moving system. we'll still be watching this throughout next week as that track could continue to waver, but at least for the time being rough seas are definitely going to be seen across all the southern japanese islands, even over towards northeastern luzon as well. now, let's look off towards the north in japan, fair weather dominating much of the area across honcho, even tokyo. expecting a high of about 24 on your saturday. some sunny skies companying with that as well. now, into hokkaido, see a low-pressure area. that's bringing some heavy rain showers. it will start to move off towards the east, high pressure ridging behind it going into saturday. but up fortunately, starting off next week, we have another low coming into the tail of that moving across northeastern china and southeastern russia. this brings some slow and freezing temperatures across that area. should start to impact hokkaido going through the beginning of next week. across much of eastern china, though, looks like sunny skies

in this area. chongqing with a high of 19, beijing at 16, minus 1 only for your high on saturday there in ulaanbaatar. even off there towards the east about the low 20s there in seoul. now, switch gears and look down towards the south, because we have this low-pressure area continuing to spin, starting to work its way off towards the east and southeastern australia yesterday some severe thunderstorms across queensland and in new south wales, some heavy snow showers, about 10 centimeters seen in some area. this video two the west of sydney into the blue mountain where is you saw this exceptionally heavy snowfall. you see om of the kangaroos hopping around with their joeys which couldn't get too good of an equal footing on this wet snow. see here kind of having a hard time getting around some of these residential areas. but also on a more serious note in some of the blue mountains many people got stranded on some of these highways as that heavy snow came down, blocking up some of the roads and making driving

absolutely hazardous. as we go into the forecast, it does look like clearing conditions are going to be happening here, but stim the temperatures will remain rather cool going throughout your saturday. these are the lows on saturday just towards the north of syd y sydney, minus 3, minus 1 for the low. still expect to get below freezing. you want to continue to bundle up across much of australia here. now over towards the americas, we have a low-pressure area spinning around the four corners region. this is expected to move off towards the northeast and intensify. very well could produce a severe weather outbreak across the central plains. talking about 60 kilometer-per-hour winds, large hail, even tornadoes cannot be ruled out as that continues to charge off towards the northeast. and what's fueling it, 27 for the high there in oklahoma city, winnipeg, though, only 10 on your friday. now over towards europe, also seeing a cooldown. we have this frontal area pushing across western europe off towards germany and poland, some autumn-like temperatures. london and paris at 12 and 13. yeah, still summer-like across the mediterranean, rome at 24

here on your saturday. here's your extended forecast. ♪

and with that, we conclude this hour's "newsline." i'm james tengan in tokyo. thanks for watching.